


Hunan

by Mariavc



Series: There was Skye before Daisy [1]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alexander Pierce - Freeform, Blood, Character Study, Death, Depictions of bloody scenes, Gen, Gore, Howard Stark - Freeform, Hydra is involved, It's kind of sad, Mention of other major characters, Peggy Carter - Freeform, Pre-Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Skye's Past, What really happened in Hunan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-20
Updated: 2015-09-20
Packaged: 2018-04-22 11:30:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4833710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mariavc/pseuds/Mariavc
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Linda Avery and Richard Lumley's SHIELD team is called to investigate an 084 in the Hunan province, but what they find is nothing but death and destruction. There's one just survivor among the bodies of dead villagers and Agents: a baby that will be their last mission together.</p><p>Or the story of how Skye made it to a small orphanage in Texas and her story was set in motion.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hunan

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!!! I just had to write it. I've been thinking about this for a long time because I was so into Avery and Lumley's story in season one and what really happened with baby Skye in Hunan that I just started trying to make sense out of all the small bits we got. I thought that no one was interested but I received an anon message in tumblr asking for this so I decided to finish it.
> 
> Now I want to make it a series of pieces just about Skye and her life before shield because... well she's my hero. I want to dig deeper in her story even if no one wants to read it hahaha, but if you are interested you are more than welcomed here. There's a lot of speculation here hahaha.

It is cold and so dark and they are in the middle of nowhere in a chinese forest. It is their first mission outside the US, and their biggest one so far. A SHIELD team was sent to retrieve a 084 from pacific villagers in the Hunan province and then they just… disappeared. No contact, no call for back-up, nothing. So HQ sent another team to investigate, their team.

They have no idea what that object was… well, that is kind of the point of being an object of unknown origin. Linda has never heard of one being identified recently, maybe HQ is just being cautious. Still, the operation has a high level of secrecy, which makes even more unusual to have Agents fresh out of the academy with low levels of clearance in it, but maybe it makes sense that they don’t have all the details about the mission or the 084.

She feels a jacket over her shoulders and then smiles. It is a relief to be in the same team as Richard. They had graduated together from the academy almost a year ago and had been together in a few missions. They are a good team and whatever happens she knows that he has her back.

“Thanks” She smiles when he sits next to her. They are in a shield camp, monitoring activity near the village, along with other 3 agents. Including a level 7 specialist, which is a pretty big deal. “It’s getting cold”

“I know. I just want to get the hell out of here. The woods give me the creeps” Agent Lumley says, rubbing his hands trying to warm them up.

“Are you afraid of the dark?” She teases

“Of course not. I’m afraid of 084s in creepy, dark forests”

Before she can reply there is a weird sound on the radio. “Did you hear that?” The other agents hear it too since the whole team gather close to the table where they have the radio console.

They have orders to maintain radio silence with HQ but were trying to pick up a signal from the other team.

Agent Cohen, the specialist and leader of their team speaks first “Can you fix it?” He asks Linda, she specializes in communications.

“I don’t think that there’s a problem with the radio. Something is causing the interference, Agent Cohen” She tries to fix the signal but the noise just seems to intensify. “I don’t know if it’s from one of ours”

“How do we proceed, sir?” Agent Brown asks, the only other woman in the team. She is a level 5 field agent, and the team’s pilot.

“Wait” Cohen says when they hear a voice. “Did you get that?”

“It’s like a voice“ Linda says but then she is cut by a high pitched noise followed by silence.

“We’re going in!” Agent Cohen orders, “Weapons ready. Agent Brown, stay behind. We might need a quick extraction”

The others take their assault riffles and get ready. “I’ve got your back” Richard reassures Agent Avery while loading his weapon. “It might get ugly”

“It always gets ugly” She raises an eyebrow at him and then follows the team’s captain.

The four Agents run through the dark woods, taking cover every few steps behind the enormous trees and not being able to use their flashlights.

Their eyes get used to the darkness soon, and only focus in Agent Cohen’s commands. He holds his fist up to make the team stop as they approach the village… or what is left of it.

The sight is terrifying.

It is a massacre. The entire SHIELD team had been brutally murdered; they are lying on the damp, mushy mud, and there is another pile of bodies nearby, mostly elders and probably the people from the village.

The team follows Agent Cohen, holding their weapons up as they walk through the horrific scene. The leader crouches next to one of the bodies while the team covers all the angles for any possible ambush. He examines a dead agent carefully.

The man was brutally beaten, with purple marks around his neck too. He was choked to death. The body next to him is missing a whole arm, as if someone could just rip it off, and the others are not in a better condition, all covered in dry blood and mud.

“What happened here?” their leader asks.

“Do you think it was the 084, sir?” Lumley says.

“We’ve never heard of an 084 being a person, but this is… not possible. I don’t know, but we’re still missing two agents here” He says counting the bodies again “And that noise was in our frequency. We need to keep looking” He stands up.

“What about the object, sir? We should call for back-up” Agent Dooley asks, he is another rookie operative like Lumley and Avery.

“Our first priority is to find our agents if they’re still alive. We can’t alert the enemy of our presence. We’ll call for back up to clean the scene and resume the search for the 084” Cohen replies, moving to the bodies of the villagers.

Avery joins Lumley.

“Who in God’s name could do this?” She whispers.

“Sir! You need to see this” Agent Dooley says when Cohen joins him next to the pile of dead villagers. The rest of the group is still holding their weapons up.

“These bodies have been here for days, not like the agents. They appear to be the villagers and….” He says and then opens one of the men’s shirts. It has surgery scars. “Someone did this to them”

“Sir…” Linda calls, looking at one of the bodies.

Agent Cohen follows her gaze to find a burned body… or at lease it seems like it had been burned. He touches it with his gun. It feels like rock. “I’ve never seen something like this”

“We definitely need to inform HQ. Our agents were murdered for whomever did this, they probably took the 084 too. Let’s go search the houses”

They don’t split up, instead they maintain a closed formation and follow the team leader as they go inside the humble houses. They find nothing but more destruction, as if someone had been searching for something… desperately.

In the third house though the scene is completely different. They find a back room with a dim light coming out from under the door. Agent Lumley swallows. Something doesn’t feel right.

Agent Cohen gives them a signal to get the guns ready and stand in one side of the door, with Lumley standing on the other side. He counts to three with his fingers and then kicks the door open.

“Shit” Richard says and Linda wants to puke.

More agents, but these look… different. Their corpses look gaunt as if someone sucked the life out of them. It smells terrible inside and the floor is covered in blood and bloody footprints.

“I don’t understand. I was told that it was just one team. There are 9 agents here” Cohen says then he looks at the table. There is a lit candle “Whoever did this. It’s close. He takes his radio out “Agent Brown, do you copy?”

“Yes sir” The woman responds immediately.

“Get the chopper in the air. Wait for instructions”

“Roger” She answered simply.

 

* * *

The team walks out again, following the footprints to a far corner of the village.

“We can’t keep chasing it through the woods. We need back up” Agent Dooley says to their leader.

“Do you really think that the 084 is a person?” Lumley asks.

“Whatever it is, is our mission” Cohen says “But we do need back up. We’ll go back to the camp and-“

“Wait, sir” Avery cuts him off when she sees it, a little intermittent light close to the bridge that connects the north corner of the village with the rest of the forest. Linda walks in the direction of the light until Agent Dooley grabs her arm.

“It could be a trap,” He says.

“Or another agent” Cohen adds, “Let’s go. Keep your eyes open”

When they get closer, they see it, a body. It is a dying Agent Yin, a chinese specialist and the one who had reported the 084. His face is all covered in blood and he is shivering, mumbling something.

“Agent Yin. We’ll get you out of here!”

“No” He coughs “Protect…” blood comes out of his mouth and they see the open wound of his throat.

That’s when Linda notices that he isn’t wearing his jacket. He is covering his chest with it.

He has his right arm under the jacket and the left one firmly placed over it. Agent Cohen puts pressure on the bleeding wound of his neck. He’d been shot, and beaten, and cut like the other Agents outside. “We need extraction, now!” Cohen says to the radio, getting an affirmative response from Agent Brown.

Yin clearly knows that there is no point. “Protect…He… is” He closes his eyes.

“What? The 084?” Cohen asks and then looks down. He moves Yin’s left arm and then removes the jacket.

And there is a baby.

“Wow…” Lumley says, lowering his gun. The others are still covering for any possible threat. “Is… that… a baby?” He asks.

“Yin?” Cohen asks but Yin keeps whispering unintelligible wordsas he holds the baby against his chest. _It_ is all covered in blood. “Is the baby the 084? Is it alive?” He asks, but the Agent is no longer responding. He is dead.

“Is it alive?” Agent Dooley insists. “Shouldn’t it be… crying or something?”

“Maybe it’s not a baby,” Cohen adds.

“He’s not an it” Avery protests and kneels next to Agent Cohen. She wipes the blood from the baby’s face and suddenly he opens his big, dark eyes and starts moving. “Oh my God. He’s alive”

They hear as their helicopter approaches and Cohen stands up.

“We have what we came for,” He says. “We’ll get a team to clean this up and secure the area”

“So… do you really think that the baby is the 084?” Lumley asks.

“Agent Yin died protecting this baby. He did it for a reason”

Agent Lumley kneels next to Avery. She is smiling at the baby. “Why isn’t he crying?”

“I don’t know,” She says grabbing the baby’s hand and getting a cute giggle in response. “I think he’s a she”

“Is she?”

“Look at her face”

The baby continues smiling, as if she wasn’t all covered in blood and surrounded by death and darkness. Linda picks her up from the dead Agent’s arms while they wait for their extraction.

 

* * *

The ride back to the base feels like an eternity. Nobody speaks a word in the helicopter. What they had just seen was like taken out of a horror movie and now the 084… Is it that baby? How is SHIELD supposed to take care of a baby? Does the baby have powers? Is she dangerous? She clearly didn’t destroy that village… so someone else did, maybe her parents? And if there is something special about her… maybe there is something special about her parents too.

They make it to the SHIELD base in Changsha and Avery never let go off the baby, who had fallen sleep again in her arms.

“You’re getting attached” Lumley teases as they walk across the base hangar.

Before she can answer, agent Cohen gives his orders. “We need to get that baby to a lab, to see what’s so special about him”

“Her” Avery corrects him “Sir, with all due respect. She’s just a baby. Can’t it wait until morning?”

“Agent Avery” Cohen stops and turns around “We’re on a mission. This object could be dangerous and it needs to be examined”

“It’s a baby!” she protests and sees Cohen sigh in frustration and then rub his eyes. “Sorry sir, it’s just… She’s covered in blood and probably hungry…” The agent looks at the baby and pokes his…her tummy with his finger. She is still dirty but Avery had cleaned most of the blood and wrapped her in a SHIELD jacket. She doesn’t look dangerous at all; she is just smiling and trying to grab his finger.

“Fine… we’ll wait until morning. I have a lot of explaining to do anyway. HQ won’t like this” He sighs; “It’s your responsibility until we get new orders, Avery” He turns around and leaves the two Agents.

“I don’t like this” Lumley says but Linda is too focused on the baby’s cute smile.

 

* * *

“You look so normal. What’s so special about you, huh?” Linda asks as she tries to feed the baby the apple puree that she had made. She hopes that the baby is old enough to eat that sort of thing because there is no way to find baby formula in a SHIELD base. She is eating though. That is a good sigh. “You like it…” Linda smiles “Maybe what is special about you is that you’re the cutest baby in the whole world” She chuckles when the baby munches her food in a funny way, clapping her hands excitedly and getting food everywhere.

Someone knocks on her door and then opens it. It is Richard. “Everything ok here?”

“What? You want to take the morning shifts?” She teases.

“Oh no, no… you got yourself into that little trouble” He sits next to her on her bed. “There’s no way in hell I’ll be cleaning baby poop”

“Look at her, Richard. She’s so cute, and cheerful”

“She’s also our mission. We don’t know if she has powers or something. There were people turned into stone and the rest of the agents inside the house…”

“And you think that she did it?” She raises an eyebrow at him. Smiling when the baby tries to crawl over her, chasing for more food. Richard smiles too, especially at the fact that Avery had made an improvised dress for the baby using one of her SHIELD tanks.

“She’s hungry,” He says.

“Yeah… she ate the whole thing and still asking for more. I think she’s like 6 months. I hope this is ok for her” She says, looking at the last spoon of puree when the baby eats it with enthusiasm, making that cute munching sound again.

“She’ll be fine” Lumley pats Linda’s arm as he stands up “Just keep in mind that she’s not going to stay, ok? If HQ decides to study her-”

“I know that” Avery rolls her eyes. “It’s not going to happen. The only extraordinary thing about her it’s that she’s the most beautiful baby in the world right?” She looks at the baby, making faces to make her laugh “Yes you are!”

Richard nods and then leaves, closing the door behind him. Linda is still looking at the baby. She has big, beautiful, brown eyes and she is always smiling and making sounds, like she is about to start talking or something. She is very smart too; the way she reaches for the food really surprised Linda. And she seems to pay close attention to every room she is in before feeling comfortable.

But Richard is right. She is not going to stay. Maybe they can find a nice family for her, away from the horrors that she had experienced at such short age. “We’ll keep you safe, ok? I promise that I’ll always make sure that you’re safe and happy” She frowns when the baby stops smiling. Linda sits her on her lap and the baby reaches for her hair. There is something in her eyes that still makes her feel like she is special in a way though, not dangerous just… she deserves a second chance in life. She survived all that for a reason, right? “Don’t worry baby. I’ll never let them take you”

 

* * *

There’s a persistent knocking on her door.

She grabs her gun.

“Linda, it’s me!”

She relaxes when she hears Richard’s voice and then goes to open the door. He looks pale, scared, with dark circles under his eyes.

“Cohen is dead” He simply says when she lets him in.

“Oh my God. Richard, we don’t know-“

“Stop saying that we don’t know! We know! They’re killing us off. Brown, Dooley, now Cohen. It can’t be a coincidence”

“You know what we do for a living right? Brown died in a mission, and Dooley-”

“A surveillance mission. Cohen was found in his apartment today. They’re after our team” He grabs her arms to make her look at him “It was like all those agents in China, they murdered him, smashed his skull in. He was killed by something that can’t be human”

“So what are you suggesting?”

“I’m suggesting that we get the hell out of here. Now”

“I still need time, Maybe until Mary-“

“That baby will get us all dead Linda!”

“She has nothing to do with it. You saw the results. She’s completely normal. She just needs to find a family”

“And you’re going to give her one?” He yells. “We can keep an eye on her is you want but not here. She’s going to be fine Linda, we’re going to get killed”

And Linda pauses. There is jus something about him... something different. She has known him for years and never seen him like this.

“What’s really happening Richard?”

“What?” He moves away.

“What are you like this? It’s just a baby. She has nothing to do with this, and the agents… HQ already issued reports about their deaths. Director Carter-“

“Director Carter doesn’t know shit! And well… if she does this is going to be even worse”

“What the hell are you talking about?” She sees him swallow and look down. He is almost shaking.

“Linda…”

“What do you know about this?”

“I never meant to get you hurt, or the others... I didn’t think they were going to-“

“They who?”

“Hydra” He mutters.

“What?” She frowns “Hydra? World War two Hydra… That’s nonsense!”

“It’s not. It’s real. It’s very real. It runs deep inside SHIELD. For years” He sees how her expression changes in terror “I’m so sorry Linda” He tries to reach for her but she pushes him.

“Stay away from me” Then she holds her gun up, aiming at him.

“If you want to kill me, do it, but you need to listen first” He moves his hands up.

“I have to tell them. Now”

“You can’t. It could be anyone. It could be Director Carter or even Stark or Pierce. It goes very high up. I don’t know who’s in charge; it could be all of them. Linda, they’ll make sure you can’t talk”

“All those agents! It was Hydra! In the village… they were looking for the 084 and killed everyone!”

“I don’t know. Agent Cohen was looking into that, there weren’t supposed to be so many agents in Hunan. I swear I don’t know what happened but it was Hydra”

“You don’t know? You’re one of them! You lying son of a bitch! Why would you do this? God… just… why?” She yells at him.

“We need to leave. Something happened that night. I don’t know if they’re searching for the baby but they’re after something and she was the only survivor. Maybe she’s normal and I know it doesn’t make sense but we were all there, and now they’re hunting us down”

“And how? Did you tell them? Your Hydra friends?”

“I would never do that to you”

“And I thought you wouldn’t lie to me but here we are” She lowers her gun “Do what you want. I’m not leaving until I make sure she’s gonna be safe”

“Please don’t do this”

“Get the hell out of here” She swallows and then avoids his eyes “I swear to God, Richard if you don’t go now I will put a bullet in your head”

“I’m sorry” Is the last thing he says before leaving.

 

* * *

It takes her a few days and breaking a lot of protocols, but if she can’t do anything against Hydra she will make damn sure they will never get their hands on Mary. She arranges an order to move her around, starting with sending her to an orphanage in Texas. All the records of the transfer are to be redacted and her identity protected at all costs. She goes from one place to another, asking for personal favors and making sure there is going to be no trace of transport arrangements, purchases, nothing; and then fakes the SHIELD authorizations with a level 8 clearance. She is going to disappear too, so what is the point on respect the shield protocols?

Maybe, after things settle down she can come back for Mary. That’s a solid plan. She’ll settle in Mexico and erase all traces of her identity, get a place and a new life. When she’s sure that it’s safe she can bring Mary with her.

She parks outside of the orphanage. It’s probably going to be the last time she sees Mary in a long time, until everything settles. So she brought gifts, some new clothes and toys, diapers and things that Mary might new when she moves to Texas. Not like a baby need a lot of things but she still wanted to buy them. She walks in with the box and goes straight to the main office

“Agent Jones” The nun smiles. We weren’t expecting you today.

Linda puts the box on the desk. “I just… something came up and I won’t be able to visit before she’s transferred so I decided to bring some gifts, maybe say goodbye” She smiles “I’ll be in her new location once she gets there”

The nun looks inside the box “This is lovely. Thank you so much. She’s growing up so fast that the new clothes will be perfect”

“Yeah, I got a bigger size this time. There are some times for the rest of the kids…”

“I really appreciate everything you do”

“And I appreciate your discretion with this case” She says and the nun doesn’t ask for more details. Linda covered everything and made it look like a special case of witness protection.

So the older woman just guides her to the playground to see the babies.

“She’s a little angel. Whatever we can do to help her. We’ll do it”

“Thanks. I already have confirmation from one of our agents in the new location. They will handle everything for her safety”

“Of course” Then the nun stops next to a room with a large window outside “There she is.

Linda smiles when she sees Mary trying to crawl on her own and playing with one of the nuns. “Can I come in?”

The nun nods and then follows her inside the room. The baby recognizes her in an instant.

“Hi!” Linda says and kneels in front of her “Gosh you’re so big and beautiful” She holds Mary in her arms and the baby cheers excitedly “I wish you didn’t have to go through all this but it’s just so you can grow up and have a happy life like you deserve” The baby reaches for her cheeks and her hair “And I swear I’ll come and visit, ok? I’m going to be there”

“I’m sorry to ask Agent Jones, but have you thought about adopting her? I mean she clearly likes you and is comfortable with you,” The nun asks “And I know you care about her”

“Yes, but it’s not a good moment right now. I just… have to take care of a few things before I can put her in any danger”

“I understand”

Avery looks at the baby in her arms again. The little girl just smiles as she always does. She reaches for Linda’s nose and mumbles making funny sounds. “I’m sure that wherever she goes she’ll find her place and people who will love her. She’s… very special”

It kind of hurts to say it, because she knows that the order is to move her around from place to place, different foster families and cities. And if things go wrong… if something happens she won’t be able to come for her and it’ll be always like that. She’ll grow and won’t find a place, and even if she does she’ll have to be moved again…

“Is everything ok?” The nun asks.

Linda swallows. “Yes. She’ll be just fine. I’ll come for her” Her voice breaks a little and then she puts the baby back in the younger nun’s arms. “I’m going to miss you so much” She kisses her forehead “But you’ll be in good hands” Then she wipes the stain of her lipstick with her thumb. “Goodbye baby”

Mary looks displeased and tries to reach for Linda again.

“I have to go now” She sobs “There’s a lot of things I have to do. Thank you for everything” She looks back at the baby.

 

* * *

There’s this bad feeling that won’t go away. She drives back home checking on her rearview mirror but no one is following her. She wonders if Richard is already gone, if he was telling the truth when he said that he didn’t know more about the baby or Hunan or the rest of their team. It still breaks her heart. She hasn’t had much time to think about it, to cry and break shit and be angry with him. He was her best friend, almost like family because they didn’t have anyone else.

He still didn’t think twice when he betrayed everything they believed in, when he betrayed her. Now she won’t even have the chance to ask him why he did it, maybe they’ll die and never see each other again.

The world won’t stop. Hydra will still be inside Shield and with all that power it can’t end well.

She still has a duty as an agent, and one more thing to do before living.

She opens the door to her apartment cautiously. The door was still locked and everything looks just how she left it, so she lowers her gun and locks the door after getting inside.

Her bags are already packed. She has money, fake passports and identities, guns, everything she might need. There’s one last thing to do though. She’ll leave an encrypted message for Director Carter. Lumley said that it could be anyone, even the Director herself but it can’t be. She fought the war and cut every single Hydra head in her time. She fought next to Captain America and won the war, and she made Shield what it was, she would never let something like that happen. She turns on her computer but then someone’s knocking on her door.

She grabs her gun again and covers behind the kitchen island.

The next second the door is flying inside the apartment and she hears a loud growl.

She moves fast, shoots the figure that approaches her but he’s even faster. She doesn’t even know if she hit him and he already tackled her to the ground, pining her arms against the floor.

Normally she could get out of a situation like this, but he’s too strong, his eyes are red with anger and she sees the veins on his neck pulsating.

“Where is she?!!” He screams to her face.

“I’ll never tell you”

“WHERE. IS. SHE!” He’s breathing heavily and stands up, easily grabbing Linda and pushing her against a wall hard. He places one hand on her neck and lifts her until her feet are no longer touching the floor.

“I’ll never let Hydra take her,” She says as she feels the air leave her lungs. Her head hurts too

“I don’t know what that is, but I will kill you. I… I promised… I will find her!”

“Then you will have to kill me”

 

* * *

Sister McKenna is waiting outside for the car to arrive. She’s the only one in St. Agnes that knows the details about this special case, for the rest of the personal she’ll be just another baby that needs to find a family.

The car stops in front of the building’s door and a man steps out. He doesn’t have a good aspect and doesn’t even bother to say hello or even looking at the woman. HE seems to be in a hurry.

The baby is inside a traveling case, covered by soft blankets. He takes her out, his hands are shaking.

“Hi… “ The nun says.

“Hello. This is Mary” Richard’s voice is not steady and he just passes the baby to the nun. “I’m sorry… the person that arranged this… she’s not…” He swallows “She’s not going to be able to visit. I know she wanted to do it” He looks down. “There’s money and things for the baby it was all hers… I… I’m just doing what she would want me to do I-“

Sister Mckenna holds the baby in one arm and pats Richard with her free hand “Hey. It’s ok. I’m going to take good care of her. I promise”

“Good” Richard nods “Good” He looks back at the car “I’m going to get everything out. I have to go”

The nun nods and then he looks at the baby. She’s focused on him, she doesn’t even blink and she looks serious. Linda always said that she looked like she was about to start talking. She was right.

“I’m sorry baby. I hope this was all worth it, I hope you’ll find something ok” He awkwardly grabs her little hand and the baby looks at his fingers. There’s still a little blood on them and the nun notices too.

It’s Linda’s blood. He came back for her, but it was too late.

He pulls his hand back and then goes back to the car, taking a couple of bags and Linda’s case out with all her money in it and leaves everything piled next to the stairs as the nun stares.

The baby mumbles something and he looks at her one last time “I’m sorry” He says “I… have to go now” He looks at the woman “Thanks” then back at the baby “Goodbye baby girl”

He goes back to the car and as he starts the engine he looks at the baby one last time. He wishes he could do more but Linda did all this to keep the baby safe and it has to be like this. Whoever is after them… Hydra or anyone else will never find her. When she looks at her he can almost swear that for the first time she’s about to start crying.

He starts the car and drives away just looking one more time through the rearview mirror, and the baby is crying.


End file.
